'The musical experience of a lifetime'

'The world's finest musicians in a magnificent setting'

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Our concerts are based at the historic Hansom Hall in Belvoir Street, now part of the Leicester Adult Education Centre. We look forward to returning to the Leicester Museum and Art Gallery when the redevelopment project is finished.

Hansom Hall

next lunchtime concert: thursday 26th march 1pm

nicholas daniel (oboe), amy harman (bassoon) & Antonio oyarzabal (piano)

Don’t miss the final lunchtime concert of a wonderful season at Hansom Hall. Our artistic director, Nicholas Daniel, will be joined two brilliant friends and colleagues: Amy Harman, bassoonist, and Antonio Oyarzabal, the Spanish pianist and champion of women composers.

They will play music by Madeleine Dring and fellow pupils of Ralph Vaughan Williams - Ruth Gipps, Helen Glatz and Pamela Harrison - before ending the concert with a performance of Francis Poulenc’s superb Trio for oboe, bassoon and piano.

Buy your tickets (Adults £18, U25s FREE) by following the link below.

last lunchtime concert: thursday 12th march

Emily Sun (violin) and Anna Tilbrook (piano)

Emily Sun and Anna Tilbrook joined us us at Hansom Hall for a superb lunchtime concert, beginning with Mozart's Violin Sonata No.19 in E flat K302 and continuing with music by three brilliant and contrasting works by women composers: Fantasy No.1 by Florence Price; Colloquy by Thea Musgrave and the Violin Sonata, Op. 34 by Amy Beach. A bumper audience gave them a rousing reception.

lunchtime concert: thursday 26th february

CATIL Quintet

Formed in 2023 at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, CATIL Quintet is a vibrant wind quintet formed of five talented young professionals.

We were delighted to welcome them to Hansom Hall for a lovely lunchtime concert, and thrilled to facilitate a Q&A afterwards with young musicians from Leicester High School for Girls.

lunchtime concert: thursday 5th february

fibonacci quartet

It was clear that those who were lucky enough to be at our lunchtime concert by the Fibonacci Quartet felt that they'd experienced something very special. From quicksilver Beethoven, with every nuance in the music brought vividly to life, to utterly visceral Bartok, with an staggering range of expression, we were held in a wonderfully dramatic spell by these brilliant young players.

Their Gershwin mash-up, 'I've got Fascinating Rhythm' was an exhilarating encore which sent us off into a grey, Leicester afternoon with smiles on our faces and a wealth of musical memories.

lunchtime concert: thursday 22nd january

mahan esfahani: domenico scarlatti and the spanish enlightenment

We continued our season of lunchtime concerts with the return of Mahan Esfahani, harpsichordist.  Mahan first visited us at the Museum for a memorable performance of JS Bach's Goldberg Variations, and came back a couple of years later for a lovely concert with Nicholas Daniel.

This time, Mahan turned his attention to Domenico Scarlatti.  Scarlatti spent many years living in Madrid, and Mahan explored that Spanish connection with pieces by contemporary composers in addition to a selection of Scarlatti’s sonatas.  Another very large audience experienced a deeply-felt and absorbing concert.

lunchtime concert: Thursday 8th January

fenella humphreys, martin roscoe and Nicholas daniel

Our lunchtime concert by Fenella Humphreys, Nicholas Daniel & Martin Roscoe was just as wonderful as we'd expected.

Nicholas and Martin began with a sonata by Mozart, characteristically both sublime and humorous, ‘borrowed’ for oboe by Nicholas from the violin.

The concert continued with a work by Alasdair Nicolson, powerful and evocative of Orkney, all the more significant in that it first brought together Fenella and Nicholas for its première at St Magnus Cathedral in 2016. They were then joined by Martin for Dorothy Howells’ Air, Variations and Finale, a gorgeous piece by a neglected female composer and quite a revelation.

We were then swept away by Fauré’s intensely passionate first violin sonata, the tour de force which launched his career. Fenella and Martin brought the concert to a rousing conclusion, and a very large audience went away very happy after an hour of gorgeous music-making.

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Our Friends help us to bring the world's best musicians to Leicester. They help fund valuable education and community projects locally. They also enable us to support young artists and to commission new works.

Please consider joining us. In return we will send you regular news by email and offer you priority booking; and invite you to open rehearsals where you can meet our musicians; to pre-concert talks and to a Festival Reception.